Thread by @FlintDibble

Hi old and new followers!

I’m an archaeologist who writes Twitter threads. They’re a window into the past looking at ancient people & a behind-the-scenes tour of 21st century #archaeology

Here’s an intro to my new project: #ZOOCRETE
/1 cc @CUHistArchRel @Cardiffuni @MSCActions

We’re all familiar with the popular picture of ancient Greece, from the Mask of Agamemnon to the Parthenon in Athens

But, to me, the most exciting revolution sweeping archaeology is a shift to ordinary people. With new questions & methods, we can see them in higher resolution
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I reveal ancient people through their trash: the fragmented bones of the animals they’ve eaten

These bones show how people interacted with the natural environment and tell us about the sacrificial feasts that brought together whole communities
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eidolon.pub/in-defense-of-…

#ZOOCRETE focuses on animal bones from Crete from the end of the Bronze Age down to Roman times (ca. 1200-50 BCE)

This is an important period in ancient Greece with clear evidence for climate change and urbanism, topics that matter today

What do animal bones & teeth tell us?
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As the Bronze Age ended, the climate became drier. My last article suggested that people living in especially dry areas shifted their herds to include more hardy goats

I will test & expand on this hypothesis to see how humans have adapted in the face of harsh climate change
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After 500 years of “unstable settlements”, a period of urbanism begins in the Archaic and Classical periods (700-300 BCE). City-states proliferated forming resilient communities

A key ingredients to these communities were citizen feasts with plentiful wine and meat
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The goal of #ZOOCRETE is to examine these important cultural trends, using the island of Crete as a self-contained case-study

Specifically, I’ll be examining animal remains from the important cities of Azoria, Knossos, Itanos, and Praisos and situate them among published data
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Given the abundance of beautiful art and texts in ancient Greece, animal bones have remained understudied until recently

#ZOOCRETE will mark the first intensive examination of animal remains in a single region of ancient Greece using 21st century methods
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Traditional analyses of animal remains provide important information. We don’t just count animals (though that’s important)

My custom database allows me to plot butchery marks across an animal skeleton to tight zones
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As I’ve published from Azoria, butchery styles are drastically different when comparing bones thrown out after a feast with those thrown out at home

The butchers who prepared animals for feasts were professional, using cleavers to create consistent cuts of meat
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It’s not just the bones: teeth are especially useful. Just like humans, younger animals shed their baby teeth and grow adult teeth. As they eat, these teeth wear down

Studying teeth tells us the age of animals. I bet even you can rank these goat jaws from youngest to oldest
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This is valuable information. The ages at which animals are slaughtered can inform us about animal management strategies

For example, a strategy optimizing dairy will often slaughter the males at a very young age, so humans can drink the milk instead of the young animal
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#ZOOCRETE will take the analysis of animal management a step further through analyzing the isotope signatures of animals

The ratios of different isotopes in these animal remains reflect their diet and geology
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As an animal drinks water, it absorbs Strontium isotopes of its underlying geology

The types of food it consumes impact the Carbon & Nitrogen isotopes

The season of growth (in its teeth) impacts the Oxygen isotopes, allowing us to link to seasonality

Why does this matter?
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For nearly a 100 years, historians & archaeologists argued over ancient Greek animal management

Did they move larger herds to cooler upland pastures in the summer and the lower pastures in the winter?

It’s how sheep and goats were herded in Greece in recent times
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Or were most animals raised by small farmers who had a few that they kept near their farmland & fed with chaff, fodder, or grasses growing on fallow land? The animals in return would contribute their manure

Scholars of ancient Greece call this the "agropastoral debate"
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Dozens of articles, several books, and thousands of pages of ink have been spilled on this debate

The problem is that it’s hard to get direct evidence for seasonal differences in ancient Greek animal management

But isotope analysis can provide exactly that kind of data
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The isotope signature of a tooth doesn’t change once its formed. So, you can take multiple samples up a tooth and each one will represent a different time of year

Oxygen isotopes can help us determine which season that sample was formed in (winter, summer, etc)
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And then Strontium can detect different geological signatures, so if an animal is moving that can be detected

Carbon & Nitrogen can determine if its diet changes across seasons

This new isotope evidence will provide direct data for seasonal differences in animal management
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Only nine teeth have been analyzed in this way from Bronze Age Knossos by Valasia Isaakidou (who I'll be working with) & colleagues

Similarly, four teeth have been analyzed this way from Hellenistic Thessaly, published by @kat_bish, @GarvieLok, @MargrietHaagsma, & colleagues
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The published data is fascinating and confusing. There’s evidence for a variety of management strategies. But, the sample sizes are low, making it difficult to determine any clear patterns

These early publications are fantastic, but we need more, more, more!
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What makes #ZOOCRETE different is the sample size. The methods I’ve developed are lower resolution, making analysis more affordable

Thanks to the funds from my @MSCActions fellowship I can analyze 52 teeth from four sites
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With these 52 teeth, I’m hoping we can start to answer the raging agropastoral debate. This matters

These analyses will provide needed data to help us understand how ancient Cretans (not cretins!) adapted their food production strategies to climate change and growing cities
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Now, you’re wondering, wouldn’t it be better to sample even more teeth?

Yes! I’m planning to apply for more funding. But I also thought, maybe a few of you would be interested in helping me crowdfund this project

Each tooth analyzed seasonally costs about £275
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Seasonal analyses aren’t the only method

I can answer important questions with non-seasonal sampling of pigs, cows, dogs, deer, & horses, costs about £100 per tooth

No pressure, but if you enjoy reading my threads, I’d love help increasing my sample size
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📷 @NeolithicSheep

I’m committed to sharing archaeology with everyone no matter what

But if you want to chip in to help out an archaeologist, you can buy me a coffee here (which will let me spend my coffee money on research): buymeacoffee.com/flintdibble
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If you want even more nitty gritty details about my research, maybe consider subscribing to my Patreon. I will post advance copies of my writing and more behind-the-scenes looks at what I’m doing

I just added a public post about #ZOOCRETE: patreon.com/posts/56264162
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Thanks for reading this far. And, kids, remember to say NO to pseudoarchaeology

Instead, give this thread a retweet and share real #archaeology with the world!
/end

For more info, check out my thread of threads below on #ClassicalZooarchaeology

For citations and credits to the scholarship and images in this thread, see my citations thread below

PS Note that I am not a non-profit institution. All funds contributed are taxable income, but I will use them to supersize my research. I will be transparent in how they are used

I enjoy sharing real archaeology for free and hope people see that value and will help out

PPS. I want to be clear that, I have no beef with any other scholars who are working on similar research. I love the groundbreaking work they have done. To me, scholarship is not a competition, but a collaboration. I’ll be in touch with them all as I work on this project

Lastly, while several scholars have told me that sharing archaeology and debunking pseudoarchaeology on social media is valuable

Many others have told me it's a waste of time

Please share this thread to send a message that sharing real #archaeology is valuable

You can get back to the top of the thread easily here